Recalled/Assigned: Canucks recall F Will Lockwood

[DonnyNucker]

Life moves fast, Need to at least try to keep up:

Faber's quote from the article, "From what I’ve heard, there was an altercation between Baertschi and Green and since then it seems as Green would not give Baertschi a real shot to play for him."

Monday Mailbag: Updated Canucks prospect trade tiers, a root beer frosty, and why Sven Baertschi isn’t in Vancouver right now​

Baertchi isn’t in Vancouver because he is bad at hockey.

 

[RobertKron]

Baertchi isn’t in Vancouver because he is bad at hockey.

No room for bad players on this roster!

 

[Izzy Goodenough]

Per reporting by Drance, it appears to be a cap issue. One more game sitting and then he can play out rest of season without risking a 212.5k bonus that would carry over to cap next year and cost FAQ straight up cash for no real reason.

So FAQ is risking 220K when his head coach has a player he quarrelled with sitting in the minors collecting a cool 10M for doing nothing for the parent team?

Juolevi and his agent will be watching if Elias does return with 4 games left (as Drance also mentioned) in order to achieve his 500K bonus.

If you want to build team cohesiveness, and loyalty to the franchise is this the way to do it.

 

[Izzy Goodenough]

Baertchi isn’t in Vancouver because he is bad at hockey.

Don't stop believin the team narratives.

 

[VanJack]

I guess they're rewarding Lockwood with a bit of NHL money for his good year in Utica.....because after he quarantines for a week, the season will basically be over.

Would be nice to see both Lockwood and Gadjovich on the ice for the last of couple of games. In fact either one could replace Lind in the lineup, who's basically disappeared.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Baertchi isn’t in Vancouver because he is bad at hockey.

This might be true if everyone was healthy, but they're not.
Baertschi got called up for 6 games when the team was a playoff team last year. The team has had more injuries/issues with COVID this season, doesn't really have any better depth than last season, and the results show the team is worse this year, so it doesn't really make much sense.

 

[AppleHoneySauce]

If you want to build team cohesiveness, and loyalty to the franchise is this the way to do it.

They might figure that no way he leaves them so they feel fine jerking him around. Could see him taking an offersheet though if given the chance. Even if its a no compensation amount.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Might as well find out what we have in some of these players.
Hopefully this off season we start to get rid of some of the expensive dead weight in the bottom six and start to give these young kids a chance to come to camp and be given a legitimate shot at grabbing a spot. The results can’t be any worse and even if they aren’t ready there are always veteran bottom sixers who can be signed on cheap short term deals to ease the young players in.

 

[VanJack]

It's almost unfathomable that in Baertschi and Eriksson the Canucks have close to $9m tied up under the salary cap.

In fact without checking, I still feel confident that the highest salary on a taxi squad; and the highest salary in the minors in entire NHL, belongs to Benning and the Canucks.

You'd think the owner would be the guy who's peeved at this. But apparently not.

 

[mratch19]

Neat. His speed may help reveal just how slow some of our players are , for anyone who hasn't already noticed heh.

He played with Hughes in Michigan too right? Either way, im happy for him and hopes he has a good showing .

 

[arttk]

The less cap Jethro has to work with, the better GM he is.

We had no cap and we still ended up with Holtby and Virtanen extension

 

[DonnyNucker]

This might be true if everyone was healthy, but they're not.
Baertschi got called up for 6 games when the team was a playoff team last year. The team has had more injuries/issues with COVID this season, doesn't really have any better depth than last season, and the results show the team is worse this year, so it doesn't really make much sense.

He has been bad in Utica. How can he help the team? I think everyone agrees he can’t play in your bottom 6. Are there really still baertchi fans out there? He will never play another game for any team. KHL bound if he wants to continue his career

 

[beachcomber]

If he does well he’s a Brackett pick. If not then Jimbos all the way.

 

[Hit the post]

We had no cap and we still ended up with Holtby and Virtanen extension

Better those two than another Eriksson or even Myers deal.

Seeing as Fredo wants to keep Johnny Ola around, one has to just hope the mess he leaves behind isn’t too bad.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

If he does well he’s a Brackett pick. If not then Jimbos all the way.

GMs don't really weigh in on picks after the 1st round, and Brackett specialized in NCAA scouting, so suggesting that the Lockwood, Rathbone, Madden, etc. picks were likely Brackett's does not seem very unreasonable. Either way - who cares? Sounds like you're more of a Benning fan than a Canucks fan.

 

[orcatown]

From watching Utica, I'd say Lockwood has definitely got NHL wheels. But you can see he was still playing a college style rather than a pro game. Too many wide arcs looking for more room when there was none. Question will be whether he can adjust to the stop and go, board battling nature of the NHL. Forechecking should be a strength at this point but mucking around for goals around the net may not be.

 

[Get North]

Lind, Gadjovich and now Lockwood. They must be looking for a Virtanen replacement on the 3rd line.

 

[MS]

GMs don't really weigh in on picks after the 1st round, and Brackett specialized in NCAA scouting, so suggesting that the Lockwood, Rathbone, Madden, etc. picks were likely Brackett's does not seem very unreasonable. Either way - who cares? Sounds like you're more of a Benning fan than a Canucks fan.

Yeah, I mean superficially it might 'look' unfair that Brackett only seems to get credit for the good picks ...

... but the fact of the matter is that we know a lot about how these picks are made, and virtually every good pick this team has made since 2015 is pretty conclusively linked to Brackett. We know the USHL guys are his guys, and IMac (Benning's biggest shill) has confirmed that every post-Juolevi #1 pick was a Brackett call.

Conversely, we also know that Benning overruled the scouts on Virtanen and Juolevi, and wanted to take Glass over Pettersson.

So it might seem unfair ... but that's what the evidence shows.

The one successful pick that does appear to be Benning's is Hoglander, so credit can be applied there.

 

[MS]

From watching Utica, I'd say Lockwood has definitely got NHL wheels. But you can see he was still playing a college style rather than a pro game. Too many wide arcs looking for more room when there was none. Question will be whether he can adjust to the stop and go, board battling nature of the NHL. Forechecking should be a strength at this point but mucking around for goals around the net may not be.

He reminds me a lot of what we're seeing from Highmore right now. He's fast and has a good motor ... but he's small and weak and easily pushed to the perimeter and a lot of eye-test effort doesn't seem to lead to a lot of tangible results.

That said, he's scored a few goals in the recent Utica games I haven't watched so maybe his hands are improving?

 

[iceburg]

Lind’s performance in the last few games is exactly why you have to get a look at these players in the NHL. I wasn’t that impressed with him in Utica based on the few games I watched. He looked ok the first NHL game, I guess mostly on adrenaline. The last few he’s looked very much like he did in Utica, a few flashes but for the most part chasing and not quite getting there.
There is no need to protect him in the expansion draft.

 

[MS]

Lind’s performance in the last few games is exactly why you have to get a look at these players in the NHL. I wasn’t that impressed with him in Utica based on the few games I watched. He looked ok the first NHL game, I guess mostly on adrenaline. The last few he’s looked very much like he did in Utica, a few flashes but for the most part chasing and not quite getting there.
There is no need to protect him in the expansion draft.

Heh, I'd argue the opposite - that Lind's results in the NHL were incredibly predictable based on what we saw in the AHL and this is why we *don't* need to be giving guys like this a shot.

That said, at least it's good that a lot of the people trying to hype him (hey, IMac!) might shut up about it now.

Rathbone, by contract, looked like an elite player at the AHL level and the fact he's looked pretty good in the NHL is not overly surprising, either.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Lind, Gadjovich and now Lockwood. They must be looking for a Virtanen replacement on the 3rd line.

Well, between the 3 of them they would make the player Jake was supposed to be.

 

[UticaHockey]

Lockwood has worked hard in Utica so I see this as an end of season cup of coffee reward. I think I read that with a 7 day quarantine he could play in the Canucks final two games. Lockwood has NHL wheels and high motor but is a work in progress. He plays a physical game but gets bumped off the puck often and needs to learn to use his teammates instead trying to do too much on his own.

 

[Bad Goalie]

You may all quarrel over the names ,but the following players are already under contract to the Canucks next year on 1-way contracts:
Horvat
Boeser
Miller
Pearson
Pettersson
Motte
MacEwen
Roussel
Beagle
Eriksson
Highmore

Highmore was acquired in a trade for Gaudette. Benninmg has been very reticent to get rid of a player he has just traded for. Adam has 4 Pts in 6 GP while Matthew has 1A in 11GP. If this deal was to get rid of the COVID catalyst as soon as possible, Highmore is just as easily gone now that the smoke has cleared.

These 2 will be on 2-ways and I doubt I can find a poster here who doubts both will be Canucks on day 1 of camp.
Hoglander
Podkolzin

That's 13 forwards.

I'm sure there are those who will question a few:
Sutter - After signing Pearsson and listening to the praise Sutter still gets from management, I'd be very surprised not to see him re-signed.

He would be 14 and that would be the likely limit with the D they are going to have to select from.

You want one more?

Both of these guys can be traded, but have a list of 5 they can refuse.
Roussel - He never gets scratched if healthy. Management likes him. I doubt he is very high on most teams list of desired acquisitions.

Beagle - No team in their right mind wants to take on this player at his salary even if it's only for one season. Every team is stretching their dollars and this is just too much money for a declining 4th line player coming off LTIR.

My bet is Benning still wants Roussel for his physicality and toughness (in his eyes). If they won't buy out one of these guys, you have 2 more to add to the list of 14 = 16.

Now let's look at the rest:

Gadjovich - 2 way
Lockwood - 2 way

I bet these 2 get a look now. Gadjovich will show he still has a skating issue and Lockwood will be way short on skills and real high on motor.

These 3 with the next 5 are not all going to make the roster even if Benning can find a way to part with a couple on the top 14 list.

Then there's the unsigned:
RFA -
Bailey
Lind
Hawryluk

UFA -
Boyd
Vesey
Graovac

I get the impression even Benning can see the weaknesses in Vesey.
Bailey was playing before his injury and many were impressed with his speed and offensive eye for the net.
Lind is the same guy we saw in Utica. He feeds off of the better forwards. Move him away from the top 6 and he won't be worth a contract. He's not a checker and he is not a good defensive player.
Graovac has had a real good few games. Has he had an epiphany or was it just puck luck?

I'd guess the only way you see any of these guys on the Vancouver roster is if management makes room by parting with a couple of the those in the top 14 above to save money. They will be in cap trouble after signing Pearson, Demko, Hughes, Pettersson, and stupidly Sutter.

Benning is not in any way looking to put guys into his lineup not proven to be abler to play in the NHL. He's got enough of those guys so most of these guys will either not be given QOs or get re-signed with the idea of placing them in the AHL since that team has absolutely nothing until these guys are assigned there. Focht, Keppen, Woo are the only guys that don't need to be re-signed. Maybe another rookie or 2 can be on the horizon, but other than that your new AHL team will have very little to go watch if the majority of these guys are not assigned there.

 

[Jyrki21]

This definitely smells like the last straws for Benning, showing off his prowess at evaluating players or lack of "filling the cupboards with prospects".

I wonder if this is Green's method of showing the lack of depth he has had to deal with

Even though Lockwood is a Brackett pick through and through, this does sound awfully like trying to get the NHL logo beside one more name on hockeydb.com to claim the gravy train of draftees continues to flow. I'm not saying that's literally what's happening, but it looks like it from afar.